Long Beach City Council to allocate emergency funds at special meeting Saturday

A special City Council meeting has been scheduled for Saturday at 10 a.m. in order to earmark money that the city recently borrowed through a tax anticipation note and a budget note to cover a recent cash-flow shortfall — and to make sure employees receive their paychecks in time for the holidays.

The meeting will include a resolution — requiring a majority council vote — authorizing a budget amendment to the general fund for the 2011-12 fiscal year.

The meeting follows an emergency City Council meeting in November at which two resolutions were passed, one authorizing the city to borrow a $1.75 million tax anticipation note in order to pay its workers in time for Christmas, and another authorizing a $2.5 million budget note that would allow the city to meet its contractual obligations to pay outgoing police officials and other retirees amid a cash-flow shortage, which city officials attributed to “unforeseen” costs associated with Tropical Storm Irene and other factors.

The measure came on the heels of a Nov. 18 memo by City Comptroller Sandra Clarson, who said that the city has $3.9 million in cash in its operating bank accounts but was $1.3 million short of its Dec. 23 payroll.

If Saturday’s resolution were not approved, payroll and termination salaries would not be paid. The council, however, is expected to pass the resolution by a 3-2-majority vote, and it would allow the money the city has received to be earmarked to cover the appropriate shortfall lines. Currently, $1.5 million secured through a budget note would allow the city to meet its termination payouts, though city officials said that they had borrowed more as a contingency, in the event that more police officials resign in the weeks leading up to a new Democratic administration on Jan. 1.

The tax anticipation note covers salaries and overtime, including $400,000 in overtime salaries for the Police Department and another $400,000 for temporary salaries in the Recreation Department.

Click on the link to read the full agenda: http://www.longbeachny.org/vertical/Sites/{C3C1054A-3D3A-41B3-8896-814D00B86D2A}/uploads/December_17_2011_special.pdf